You know the guy. Leonardo. The famous one.
No, not the one from Titanic. The other one. That's right—the legendary Italian Renaissance Man known for his unbelievable versatility, ingenuity, and creativity in various fields—one of the greatest artists, inventors, engineers and thinkers of all time.
And I'm willing to bet you've seen at least one or a few of his most famous works of art, such as the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, or the Vitruvian Man.
But did you know that he also wrote the first cover letter in history?
The story goes like this—
In 1482, Leonardo da Vinci sent a letter to Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. In it, Leonardo introduced himself and made a persuasive outline of the various skills and services that he could offer to the Duke of Milan. Namely: military and water engineering projects.
He was trying to impress the Duke in order to land a job as a court engineer.
No, there was no LinkedIn back in the day. No PowerPoint or Zoom either.
But to make up for it, the document he sent was part cover letter, part CV, and part pitch deck. Da Vinci's goal was to show the Duke the potential in military power and infrastructure that would come with having someone like him on his staff.
In terms of tone, Da Vinci's letter shows himself as confident and passionate about his skills. But most importantly, he is crystal clear about his goals—to help Sforza and his country—and provides details about the types of weapons and defense systems that he could develop for the Duke.
No surprise—the letter worked and Sforza hired him! It was the start of a great partnership, with da Vinci creating impressive weapons and infrastructure systems during his time in Milan. In addition to his audacity, the letter is also a demonstration of Leonardo's ability to clearly communicate his goals and his plans to carry them out.
Fortunately, times have changed and landing a job no longer requires writing a hand-written letter to a Duke. But it still requires knowing what you want to communicate to your potential employers—especially at a job interview.
All the time and technology has not changed this ongoing challenge. In fact, I see it in my daily work as an English Communication coach helping job candidates prepare for job interviews as well as getting entrepreneurs ready to pitch ideas to investors. Most of the time, the biggest challenge for them is not that English is not their first language, it is that they don't have what Da Vinci had—a clear idea of what they want to communicate.
But with a little help, that can change.
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